Do you need a makeover? (Where is our shine?)

And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. Exodus 34:29 KJV

Why do you come to church? A lot of people come to church for different reasons. Some people come to church to do business, some come because they are on the look-out for a spouse, others come to worship, and lots of other reasons.

The bible says the face of Moses shone, why? His face shined because he had an encounter with God. When we have an encounter with God we have a shine that is visible for everyone to see. Just as the children of Israel were not able to look at the glory of God that shone on Moses’ face, we would also have that shine of God reflected in all we do that darkness would not be able to have its way in our life.

Is your face shining? Can people see the glory of God reflected in your life?

Why do you come to church? Basically, we have come to church to seek God for ourselves. We are supposed to seek God by ourselves, whether the choir sings well or not, whether the minister’s sermon is good or not. We must have a personal relationship with God, spend time with God. We need to learn how to spend time with God.

Seeking God for yourself ensures that we are internally regenerated, and the glory of God in us is eternally proclaimed.
As you come out everybody would know you have had an encounter with God.

Why is it important to spend so much time with God? To get answers to questions that are bothering us and seems difficult for us. To worship God. To have a focal point in life, so that we can achieve much, succeed and excel in life. Spending time with God gives us control and puts us in a place of dominion.

Do you know that God is waiting for you? He wants you to have an encounter with him, so that you can have that change you desire from the inside of you.

Who or what is the god in your life?

Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof six cubits: he set it up in the plain of Dura, in the province of Babylon. Daniel 3:1 KJV

We serve a great God who does things that are strange to us and allows strange things and concurrences in the lives of men. Life and the circumstances we are faced with makes us to worship other Gods.

In Exodus 32, the children of Israel spoke to Aaron and asked that he makes them a god that they could control. A god that is in their control and one that they can be attached to. A god of convenience. The insecurity of men and aspiration for power pushes men to worship other gods. They would worship money, men, fame, power, food, and all the things of insignificance that they have around them.

A lot of times life would give us rules and regulation that don’t make sense. Sometimes we are moved to worship other gods because of the music we listen to and the culture we adhere to. Some people are tricked to worship other gods because they are ignorant of the one true God, while some others are moved to worship other gods using intimidation and fear.

How do you know that you are worshiping other gods?

1. Anybody that is not born again is worshiping other gods
2. If their is a groups, a person, an organization, material possession or something that you have placed as more important than God in your life
3. If we are in a group where things done do not glorify God, they are worshiping other gods
4. If your happiness is dependent on something and someone, that person or thing is a god in your life
5. If their aspects in your life that you can’t do without and takes you away from God, you are worshiping other gods
6. If you have something or someone that consumes all your time to the exemption of God, then you are worshiping other gods

To get out of worshiping other gods we need to have a relationship with God. We need to seek God, become a new being, ask God to take over our life and make God and God alone the center of your life.

It is God and God alone that can give you the turn around that you need in your life, He alone can destroy the works of every strange God controlling your life. All you need to do is invite Jesus into your heart and your life, dwell on His words and ask Him and Him alone to be the Lord

Guide for daily living

And the Spirit of the Lord will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man. 1 Samuel 10:6 (KJV)

The Christian journey is one that needs us to be on the alert and live a fulfilled life. The word admonishes us to watch and pray. But to be fulfilled and not burn out living for God through the Holy Spirit, there are some things we need to note.

1. Speaking in tongues help us to pray. Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Romans 8:26 (KJV)
2. Pray at least 1 hour daily building up your holy faith. Stay in a place of focus with God. When we pray and are focused we get inspiration, solution, direction and ideas for greatness. And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God. Luke 6:12 (KJV)
3. Use the scripture to pray. E.g you did it for David, you can do it for me. Use bible verse quote. Remind him of what he has said in His word because He Himself said that His word will not return to Him void. Use scripture to pray saying according to previous precedence of happenings in the bible. So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. Isaiah 55:11
4. Stop saying negative things especially against yourself or against the things that concerns you. Don’t put yourself down. Don’t let the words of men put you down or stop you. Always be positive. Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof. Proverbs 18:21 (KJV)
5. Don’t destroy someone’s future with your own words. We do it knowingly and unknowingly. We must encourage ourselves in the Lord
6. Find time to rest, rest doesn’t mean that we are lazy. In the place of rest God also speaks to us. God will bless us in Jesus name. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. Genesis 2:2 (KJV)

Fulfilling your potential

The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of  Benjamin: ……………………………. Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations. Jeremiah 1:1-5

One thing we need to know is that the Bible says that God is no respecter of persons. The way He treats one is the way He will treat the other. He will treat you according to his word and according to His love for you. It is how we respond to the word and love that matters.

From time to time people have come out to say God has favorites and they are His favorite. But in truth we are all God’s favorite and what matters is the way we react to God. Whenever we long for and long after God and the things of God, He would come closer to us and we become His favorite. The reason why David was a favorite of God was because of the relationship he had with God.

Let us know that we are not a mistake no matter the circumstances of our birth. We are a deliberate creation of God, and He has created us with a lot of potential. God’s word says ye are God.
A lot of us have potentials but very few of us fulfil our potentials. There are many reasons why we do not fulfil our potential

1. Ignorance of who we are
2. Fear and anxiety
3. Laziness
4. Prevention by others
5. Not been born again. Been born again is going back to the manufacturer who formed us so that we can become a new creature. 

Questions that we ask God so we can fulfill our potential

1. Who am I?
2. What am supposed to do or what am I supposed to become?
3. What did you form me for?

A lot of people cannot fulfill their potential because of their ignorance of who they are and who they are in Christ. Some others don’t even know how to fulfill their potential.

How can you fulfill your potential?

1. From what you were told. From the things that people tell you and the things people say about you. You can be told or prophesied your potential. When you are born find out the meaning of your name and why your parents gave you your name.
2. From what you desire or we are passionate about.  
3. From what you have been born or gifted to do. A lot of us have been born and gifted to do certain things. 
4. Through the dawn of realization or the season and a time of reawakening. We have been born as gods but we might die of disappointment until we have that dawning and realization that we were born for more and to do more. I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High. Psalm 82:6
5. Through the word of God.  Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Isaiah 3:10

How are you maximizing your potential?

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.2 Chronicles 7:14

Prior to the time of King Solomon’s reign, Israel had been slaves in Egypt, they were led by judges who came and died at the end of their time; the nation went through periods of trials in the land and the children of Israel cried unto God and He gave them judges who led them. Eventually they asked for a King which God gave them.

There is a formula for greatness just as we see in the bible verse above. There is a formula to make Nigeria Great, there is a formula to maximizing the potentials of Nigeria and of the people that make up the country called Nigeria. There is the need to be humble, to pray, to seek the face of God and to turn from our wicked ways. God Himself is asking this of us as a people and as a nation. After we have done these things He has promised to hear us from His throne in heaven, he will not only hear but will also forgive us as a people and heal our land.

There is nothing wrong with the land called Nigeria. Nigeria is not a mistake because it is a country that was brought together specially by God. 1 out of every 4 black person is a Nigerian. The state of Nigeria today is a reflection of the state of the people.

What do you need to have Nigeria maximize its potential? What do you need yourself as a person, a Nigerian, a citizen of the world to maximize your own potential? We must do all that we can to maximize our full potential. We must do all that we can to ensure that Nigeria as a nation fulfills its potential. We must do all that we can that we ensure that we make the best use of the talent that we have been blessed with.

1. People with knowledge, compassion and care for the nation and its people. People of faith, people with love for the nation and its people
2. Great leaders. Leaders that are self serving, truly love the nation and the citizens. Leaders that are conscious of the need of the land and works to bringing it to pass. Ezekiel 22: 29-30, Proverbs 29:2
3. Great partners; internal partners who will speak truth to power, establish industries, external partners who will be bring investment and funds to Nigeria
4. Knowledge, information and technology. Hosea 4: 6-7. 
5. Be ready to pray. Nehemiah prayed when he was re-building Jerusalem. He had prayer on one hand and the willingness to work on the other hand. 

God is looking for people. People who are ready to run with the vision of the country. He is looking for accountable people who would put his neighbour first, thinking first of his neighbour and what would benefit him.

As a people we must turn away from wickedness and from greed. We must begin to embrace contentment with what our hands and hard, smart work can do for you. A lot of us spend too much on earth that we forget that there is a heaven, therefore we don’t even work at getting there.

What is the foundation of your family?

And God spake all these words, saying, I am the Lord thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.bondage. Exodus 20: 1-2 KJV

A lot of people have been born into bondage. The grandchild of a slave is a slave. The children of Israel went into slavery by an invitation of their forefathers. They were not conquered in war but they walked into it. They went in to solve a problem that came from famine and ended up as slaves in a place where they went in as free men.

In a lot of homes, mostly African homes, have altars that generations are tied to. This altars serve as a covenant between generations to come and the initiators of the altar.

Isaiah tells about the foolishness of man. He talks about the how man makes images to worship from those same things we make use of. Wood that we use as fire, furniture; the same we use as graven images. A lot of us do not have graven images in our homes, but our jewelry, paintings and other things we hold dear have become our own altar and graven image. Such that things begin to go wrong because these things have more importance in our homes and our lives.

Without our knowledge we bring into our lives idols and things that will become a door for which the enemy enters into our lives. Even some of us have unknowingly become a part of idol worship by a reason of where we come from, where we go, who we move with, and those things we hold dear.

God does not take kindly to those people who give more importance to images, lust, material thing above Him. Sometimes we may not have contributed to this, but the effect of it affects us generations after. Why? Because our bloodline has the remnant effect that affects the generations to come after.

Due to this effect a lot fail at the edge of breakthrough, a lot are faced with alcoholism, a lot are faced with lust. Most of these are as a result of the works of our forefathers. Leviticus 26:38-39
A lot of people are wasting away as a result of the iniquity of their fathers, or father’s house. Almost any family is under one of the following or the other

1. A family covenant - an agreement with something or one of the other to do something for with and for them
2. Ancestral yolk - similar to a covenant but different in that it is an attachment to something we are tied to. Some families are tied to alcoholism, some are tied to their women not marrying, and so on
3. Family curse
4. Family inheritance

Some of us bring on ourselves and the life of our children a curse by wanting to buy our way out of laid down family principles.
The farther backward you can look, the farther forward you are likely to see.~ Winston Churchhill
To be ignorant of what occurred before you were born is to remain always a child.. ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

What are the remedies to repairing this fault in your foundation? And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed, and sang praises unto God: and the prisoners heard them. And suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken: and immediately all the doors were opened, and every one's bands were loosed. Acts 16:25-26 KJV

• First we have to have identify what the problem is
• The we need to pray and praise. This shakes the foundations and opens doors. God's presence comes down when we praise and combining it with praying without ceasing seals it
• Repentance from all wrong doings
• Restitution
• Accepting Christ as your Lord and Saviour (be born again into the the new life that Christ offers with open arms)
• Take God seriously, do all you can to do what God wants you to do.

Have you discovered your potential?

That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.  Let the people praise thee, O God; let all the people praise thee. O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for thou shalt judge the people righteously, and govern the nations upon earth. Psalm 67:1-7 KJV

Everyone has potential! The question this morning is.......….What is potential? Inherent value in something. Everybody has the ability to do something. Everyone has potential, no matter how you are born or where you are born. Potential is your unused strength (dormant strength) and untapped ability.

Can a nation have potential? Yes a nation can have potential. If this is true, then what is a nation? A group of people with a common vision, common goals, common mission, common purpose moving together towards a common direction. The most important thing about a nation is the commonality of purpose towards a given direction.

Is Nigeria a nation? Nigeria is not a nation because we did not willingly come together but was amalgamated to fulfill certain designs. Nigeria does not have a common purpose but we can be a nation. Everybody is moving in separate direction with their own common purpose. This is the basis of the Nigerian problem and if we don’t identify their and work with it we cannot become a nation. In spite of our diversity we can move in the same direction by having a common goal and purpose. Nigeria has the potential to become a great nation and develop its full potential.

How many of the people on earth achieve or fulfill their potential? Most likely less than 10% of people in the world fulfill their potential. But why is it that very few people are able to fulfill potential? How come only about 10% of the people alive will fulfill their potential? There is no self discovery. The richest places in the world is the grave yard! ~ Miles Monroe.

The word tells us this for a fact - Ye are gods_ and we have the capacity to function as gods. However a lot of us we die like mere men not using out ability as gods.
Your used strength , your hidden talent, untapped ability and dormant talent. Most people don’t even know how to use their ability and they limit themselves by themselves to the limitation of their immediate self.

One of the reason the world is struggling under a lot of pain is because a lot of people have not fulfilled their potential. What we need is inspiration, vision and aspiration to fulfill our potential. How do you know that we all have individual potential?

1. Before you were created God created you with potential Jeremiah 1:5. Therefore we know this for a fact, nobody is a mistake. We all have potential to do something great. 
2. You can be imparted with potential. People can impart you with potential. Mary spoke into the womb of Elizabeth, the baby leaped with joy. Luke 1:39-45
3. You can genetically induced or inherited potential. A lot of time we hear people say it runs in my family or this is how our family does things. 

The challenge is - have you discovered your potential

Training your child in this times Pt 3

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6 KJV

The first problem is that we have misplaced values in the family. The candidate is a reflection of the majority in a nation. But the quality of the candidate is built from the foundation, which is the family. The goal of knowledge is transformation and not recall. We are supposed to be able to test how we apply for this is the essence of knowledge. Most parents want their children to be able to recall and so they groom them to excel in academics. They grow up not being able to question the life they live and the product of that life. Yet we complain that our children are not at par with their contemporaries all over the world.

Vision is the commitment of human being to alter the course of his life. Our children need authentic models, people who they can really trust, people that can help them get to where they are meant to be. Children need help and those to help them are called adults. A child that is 5 years today would be 35 in 30 years and what you build in his life today would determine who he would be at the age of 35 years. So many people are aging and not growing, and we do not want to train our children in this direction. We need to teach them how to grow so that at that time they look back would not be looking for aids or begging for money to pay bills.

There is no such thing as a stubborn child, there are only ignorant parents. Once a child is 18 he should be old enough and ready for responsibilities. We know that first in class is not first in life, children should not go to school to be the best in class, he goes to school for network which would help them for the future. As parents we need to change our standards, we need to change our goal. We need to change how we train our children and how we impact their life. Our children must be universal in their outlook and not local. They must be relevant on the global market.

This is the asset we must give to our children. Your children should not be like you; we need globally competitive children. A child is born with 4 natural quality, ignorance, fearlessness, spontaneity and curiosity. We as parents must nurture these 3 qualities in our children. Correct your child and not lose control by punishing them. Correction leaves the channel open that no matter what they do, they can come to you for love and understanding. That in spite of all that is happening anytime they come to you, they get solution. The most powerful word in the world is a word “NO”. Teach your child to say no. The second most powerful is “WHY”. They must be able to question the obvious, the status quo. If they dare to ask why they would be able to overcome a lot in life. You must also allow your children to say “NO” and “WHY” to you. From home they would be able to take it outside, because when they ask, you respect it and answer them, the confidence to ask outside would not be lacking.
don’t get so busy and delegate your responsibility to your children. Anything that doesn’t allow you to perform your duty to your child is a stronghold waiting to destroy the life of your child.

Train a child today so that when he is old he would yield great fruit. Your job as parent is to sow the seed, water the seed and continue sowing the seed. The job of God is the fruit and harvest. What really gets children off is the fear of the parents that they are doing something wrong and will go the wrong way. Do not let your fear control who your children would be.

Training your child in this times Pt 2

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6 KJV

So many parents are training kids not in the wrong way but in the way that is not peculiar with the purpose of the child. At the end of the day we are surprised when the children don’t turn out right. We live in a very complex time, and the only way to respond to complexity is knowledge.
The African belief system is dram sensitive; it is impossible to exemplify a belief without infusing a form of drama into it. For over 50 years we still receive aid and beg, still we are still the poorest continent. Favour is not free and nothing is free in the world. We mistake the Favour we get in aid for good will, but what we lose with aid more than what we get. Helplessness is a thing of the mind and the colour of oppression is played in the mind. It is important for us to show strength in a new way when we relate with and train our children. The impact of principle is received and seen as oppression by most, if we are not careful we would be seen as an oppressor by our children and all. This is what we see in this world we live in now. Presently, the realities of many are upside down. This set would want to drag you into their own way of life.

God does not have love, He is love and in the presence of love He has not compromised His values. Therefore we need to begin to culture a new kind of discipline, one that shows the kind of people we are and will be. We need to exemplify this disciple and love with our children. These days parents out of love for their children will walk them to the edge of destruction. The fact that we love our children doesn’t mean we would watch them ruin their lives.

Our assets and material things we acquire is not the important part of life that gives the meaning of life. When we place the value of material things over life and people, children would see this. As they grow they would display or demonstrate these in their actions. Yet we wonder why children are turning our bad even though we have continually made installments of destruction in their lives.

When the curriculum in the home is faulty the effect on the community is devastating. Children are growing up to become handsome fools, beautiful fools. Who we are is intangible and invisible. The personality is not in the clothing or the makeup, but in the inner content of the person. We do not need formal training to be handsome, angry or foolish; it is just what makes a container. What we need for our children is the content, what makes up the man. What is needed in a man is the ability to sit in other people’s shoes, feel what they feel, take what he feels put that in his shoe before you begin to judge them. This is called empathy, if it is impossible to feel what others feel before we judge them them we are not fit to lead or train a child in the path he/she should follow.

Training your child in this times Pt 1

Every environment is not the right environment,in the same vein every time is not the right time. It is not that there is something wrong with the environment, or that there is something wrong with the time. This way we get to know that there are different environment and different times. Life recognizes this similarities and differences.

However, life does not recognize us for our similarity. We are rewarded for our differences. If we are going to succeed in life it would be because we have focused on our differences. Our differences are backed by the intangible and the potency of the intangibles in our life. When it comes to projects and the things we need to do in our life, we must focus on our differences. A child is complicated and must be dealt with focusing on the differences that makes the child a unique human being.

There are two things that we should allow control in relationships either as parent or part of any relationship. Emotion and quest for freedom. Emotion is not a factor of production. When emotion becomes the driving factor of the decision making a lot of errors would occur. At the same time, freedom is not an independent variable it is a dependent variable. We are in a time where freedom is receiving the best articulation support and push where ever. Too much of emotion is dealing with life and its challenges puts us on the road to nowhere; giving too much freedom to yourself and to the people around you is a recipe to things going upside down. What we need is education, not academics.
Education is superior to academics, it is the ability of the human spirit to experience his environment to question it deep enough to know the options that exist in it and to know the ones to embrace as a matter of supreme importance.

There is something higher than education and it is revelation. You don’t need to be born again for you to know how to lead a child and have a complete marriage. Give what belongs to Cesar what belongs to Cesar and to God what belongs to God. You don’t need God to do all things. When Jesus was at the tomb of Lazarus, he did what he could do and allowed people do what they could. He told them to roll away the stone and went close and called Lazarus out. But when it was time for him to rise from the dead he had to roll away the stone.

God has created us and created all those things just for us, however He would not do for us those things we are to do for ourselves. The economics of the home and the country is determined by man and the success of the economy is dependent on man. Even though God created it, he has handed it over to man. This is the same thing with our marriages and how we raise our children.